The ABCDs of effective YouTube Creative

Question 1

Attract

Answer 1

Hook your audience and get them to tune in

Our research shows that framing, pacing, people, and audio elements are particularly important in an ad’s opening moments for hooking your audience.

In a time when attention is limited and audiences face an overflow of information, it’s important to have a device for capturing attention early on. This applies no matter the marketing objective you’re trying to drive — awareness, consideration, and action.

Question 2

Brand

Answer 2

Help consumers see and hear your brand

Question 3

Connect

Answer 3

Make your audience think or feel something about your brand

Question 4

Direct

Answer 4

Get them to take action

Question 5

How you can leverage Attract

Answer 5

• Capture attention with visuals
• Focus on tight framing
• Keep a fast pace
• Open with people on screen

Question 6

How you can leverage Brand

Answer 6

• Using visuals or audio cues works best for ad recall metrics.
• Use visuals and audio cues for consideration and purchase intent metrics.
• Brand mentions by on-screen talent
  Audio mentions of brand are more impactful when they come from people on-screen compared to plain voice overs.
• Integrating the logo into the storyline or featuring it on a product can be effective for increasing ad recall.
• Use the logo as a super, text overlay, or persistent watermark for consideration.
• Get creative with characters
• Use brand colours

Question 7

How you can leverage Connect

Answer 7

• Storytelling styles

Appealing to the viewer’s emotions can help draw them into your story and quickly build a connection to your message. Our research shows that storytelling styles like action, humor or intrigue work well across all marketing objectives.

• Tell your story with action as in Rambo action
• Intrigue your audience by presenting your product, its uses and so on
• Find the right storytelling style for your brand
• Show function through simplicity - ads that show a simple, functional element without frills or emotion can also drive strong results
• Tell a relatable story
• Use celebrities and influencers to encourage purchase intent
• Use different camera perspectives like first person POV

Question 8

How you can leverage Direct

Answer 8

• Give them direction
  A strong call-to-action doesn’t just mention the brand or product, it’s specific about what the audience should do, such as “visit site,” “sign up,” “buy now.”
• Creat urgency. Use phrases like “limited time offer”, “limited procuts” and so on…
• Make the offer stand out

Question 9

Fundamentals for YouTube

Answer 9

Build for Attention - Use an emerging story arc to hook viewers in an ad’s opening moments.
Build for sound on -
95% of video watched on YouTube is played with sound on.
Build for mobile -
Globally, more than 70% of watchtime happens on mobile devices.

Question 10

Top Takeaways

Answer 10

The ABCD framework ensures that video creatives will Attract, Brand, Connect and Direct. So remember:

A
Attract

Framing, pacing, people, and audio elements are important in an ad’s opening moments to hook your audience from the start.

B
Brand

Integrated products, logos and audio cues are important elements to get your audience to see and hear your brand.

C
Connect

Storytelling style, message, people and audio are key to keeping people watching — and making them think or feel something.

D
Direct

Audio and visuals are key to reinforcing your message and encouraging your viewers to act.